Tuesday Night Titans

The World Wrestling Federation's 'Tuesday Night Titans', the WWF's second program to be broadcast nationwide on cable television was among professional wrestling's groudbreaking programs. Instead of presenting a traditional wrestling program, 'TNT,' as the show was commonly known, combined the sport of wrestling and entertainment (hence the term 'sports-entertainment'). Adopting a talk-show format similar to NBC's 'The Tonight Show,' WWF wrestlers and their managers were interviewed by hosts McMahon and Hayes. Comedy skits featuring the WWF stars were a major part of the show examples included the Wild Samoans demonstrating the many ways to prepare raw fish; a 'wedding' which evolved into a massive pie/food fight; Cowboy Bob Orton complains of an arm injury and goes to the doctor with Roddy Piper in tow; and the many spoofs of TV shows and movies. Other features were pre-taped promos, or vignettes, of the WWF stars; question-and-answer segments with members of the studio audience; promotions of upcoming WWF events; and updates of current WWF happenings. On occassion, wrestling matches were featured. Unlike most wrestling matches, most of TNT's material was ad-libbed and/or improvisional acting. Many of the elements seen on TNT (e.g., comedy skits) would be used in future wrestling programs, such as the WWF's 'RAW is War' and WCW's 'Nitro,' and would, in many experts' views, set the tone for what McMahon called 'sports-entertainment.'